


Licking Black Clouds Clean

by titaniumdoll



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon deaths apply, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of Derek/Braeden (Past), Mentions of Stiles/Malia (Past), mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 10:51:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2345801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumdoll/pseuds/titaniumdoll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>WIP - Stiles helps Derek clean the loft in the aftermath of Scott and Kira's failed date and reaches some new conclusions concerning Derek. The former-werewolf isn't as deaf as Stiles thinks he is. But does it really matter when Derek has Braeden now? Takes place between 4x11 and 4x12.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Licking Black Clouds Clean

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is okay, but it's something. So, let me know if it's something you want more of and I'll make it happen! Also find me on tumblr if you're interested in a multi-fandom disaster -> titaniumdoll.tumblr.com

“Sooo Braeden seems…” he lets the sentence hang because ‘nice’ isn’t anywhere near the smug bitch-face she’d been tossing Stiles’ way when she thought no one was looking and ‘horrible’ was just plain rude (even if it was true). Derek studied him for a minute, probably trying to figure out what Stiles was saying without actually saying it, before nodding slightly with something dangerously close to a smirk touching the corner of his lips. 

“Yeah, she is.” He said, then turned and walked towards the loft’s kitchen, leaving Stiles awkwardly standing under the cascade of lights left over from Scott and Kira’s (failed) date night.

“Guess I’ll just…start picking up what’s left of the window.” It took him a minute to realize Derek probably hadn’t heard him. Stiles hadn’t really had the ‘I’m-not-a-werewolf-anymore’ talk, or any talk really since Ultimate Bitch-face had shown up, with Derek but he knew the gist of it. It was weird to think Derek couldn’t hear him anymore. Well obviously he could still hear, but not the way he used to. Like the distance between the two of them now was too far unless Stiles yelled, and he couldn’t tell if Stiles was lying, couldn’t hear his heartbeat. It was just plain weird. But Stiles usually tried to make the most of terrible situations. So in true Stilinski fashion, he began talking to Derek through himself.

“’Hey thanks for sticking around and helping Stiles! You’re the best!’ Oh, no problem dude, what else could I possibly want to do on a Friday night besides help you pick glass off the floor of your loft.” He said to the empty room as he picked up shards and tossed them in a garbage bin.

“’Hey Stiles, how do you like my new smoking hot girlfriend, isn’t she great?’ Yeah totally, except she’s a mercenary and really you should definitely trust her, given your stellar track record. Plus the evil faces she throws at me are so endearing, I get what you see in her.” He said, maybe a little bitterer than he’d intended.

“’Hey Stiles, isn’t it great that I found someone who has a perfect body and is a total badass and hasn’t tried to kill me yet?’ Yeah Derek that’s fucking fantastic and I really want to be happy for you, except she’s not me.” A few seconds passed before the gravity of what he’d just said hit Stiles. He couldn’t see his face, but he was sure it was white as a sheet and he thanked whatever gods might be watching over him that Derek didn’t have wolf senses right now cause his heart was beating a mile a minute. He’d almost closed off that scary, unexplored part of his brain when a certain ex-werewolf’s voice broke the silence.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Four small words, but it said so much. Mostly that Stiles was totally and utterly fucked because Derek had heard everything he just said. 

Ever the smooth operator, Stiles went for “Whaaa…?” as his brilliant response. Derek walked slowly in front of Stiles, like he was trying not to spook him.

“I said she’s not my girlfriend Stiles.” And Derek was crouched in front of him. Stiles could see his bare feet and not much else because he refused to look at his face, fearing the disgust he was sure was written all over it. His resolve lasted for a whole fifteen seconds before the pressure to look was just too much. And the world must have ended because Derek was honest to god smiling. Stiles couldn’t believe how much younger he looked from such a simple thing, but there it was. And then Derek starts talking again and Stiles’ eyes are drawn to Derek’s lips. So much so that he doesn’t hear what Derek’s saying at first. 

“…convenience and protection. I didn’t know how to defend myself as a human and she was there to help, that’s all.” An unexpected flare of jealousy singed Stiles’ chest. Why didn’t he ask the pack? But that’s not what Stiles says. No, instead he says the most embarrassing and childish thing he can think of.

“But why’d you sleep with her?” He regrets it the moment he says it, but the thing with words is you can’t take them back. Stiles expects a rebuke, maybe even a punch. He deserves it if he’s being honest. What he gets instead is a laugh, an actual laugh from Derek-fucking-Hale. 

“It’s called being lonely Stiles, I’m sure you know how that feels.” And that stings a little but it’s true and Stiles can tell Derek didn’t mean it in a vicious way. He could leave it at that, and his brain screams at him to just stop for once for the love of –

“But why her?” Fuck. How many times can someone almost have a heart attack before their heart just gives up? Cause Stiles is pretty sure he should be dead by now.

“I don’t know Stiles, what do you want me to say? Besides, don’t you have Malia?” It’s probably, definitely, just Stiles looking for things that aren’t there, but he could swear Derek did that thing where you make a word sound gross when he said ‘Malia’. 

Speaking of, “Are you kidding me? I was miserable with her. At first I thought, ‘Oh, this will be great! We’ll hold hands and have sex and things will be awesome.’ But we’re not…compatible. I’m always trying to change her and she does the same with me…We called it off a while ago, just didn’t get around to telling anyone yet. And I didn’t realize it until recently but she couldn’t be what I wanted.” YOU. He wanted to say it so bad but he was scared of what might happen if he did. Things were happening too fast and it wasn’t supposed to go like this and –

“You have to breathe Stiles.” Derek said, and there was concern on his face, because he knew Stiles was having a panic attack but couldn’t actually hear it happening. The difference between someone telling you to breathe and actually breathing is pretty significant though, and it was getting worse by the second. Stiles was starting to see little starbursts in his eyes by the time Derek spoke again.

“When did you know?” 

And it was such a weird question that Stiles actually gathered enough air to say “Know what?” between his gasps. 

“This thing, these…feelings you have towards me. When did you know you wanted something more from our relationship?” 

There was no mocking, no disgust in his tone and it was enough for Stiles to croak out “I – the first day we met.” And it was the truth. From the first time they saw each other in the preserve Stiles had wanted more. First it was just more information, then more of an alliance, then friendship, and he wasn’t exactly sure when it had morphed into that kind of ‘more’ but it had regardless. There was a look on Derek’s face that he hadn't seen before, like he was in awe. 

“You should have told me. You should have told me!” There was the anger he’d expected, and Stiles relaxed a little cause anger he could handle. What he couldn’t handle was the sudden sharpness in Derek’s eyes that reminded him of the wolf and the broken sigh Derek breathed out that turned into his name. There was about half a second between then and Derek surging forward, tackling them both to the ground in a heap of limbs and lips. Stiles’ brain short-circuited for the first five seconds and he wondered for the tenth time tonight if he was dying. Then it was like someone lit a thousand fireworks inside of him and he’d never felt so alive. Derek was kissing him. It was so far down on his list of possible outcomes, he hadn’t even dared to think it might happen. But here they were. And as Derek skated his hand under Stiles’ shirt, he knew things were about to get even more unbelievable.


End file.
